You are currently browsing the archives for March, 2011.
March 31, 2011
It all started in May 1998, a couple of weeks before my 11th birthday, in the sporting goods store where I bought my first (and only) pair of in-line skates.
I had absolutely no idea how to use those, i don’t even remember the reason why I wanted such a present. To overcome my ignorance I did the only thing a child growing in a family like mine would do if wants to learn something new: buying a book where there are explained the basic techniques, in this case, of the use of in-line skates.
I spent only-God-knows how many hours skating in the car parking area, that is few square meters wide. The same area that I can see from my window in this moment.
I spent much of that time, alone, dreaming about how beautiful would have been if I were an older boy that could go out on his in-line skates through the city streets, or using them in a big park “like those ones I see in American telefilms”.
In the later months I often asked to my parents to bring me to the parks that you could have found in Catania 12-13 years ago.
I wished I had friends to go out with. A couple of time I went out to use my in-line skates with a group of classmates, but still we all were with parents looking after us (It’s ok, we were only 11-12yo kids in a not-exactly-safe city).
I can’t even remember the numbers of times I told myself: “when I’ll be older I learn the advanced techniques from a group of loyal friends”. It of course never happened, even because for “health issues” I had to stop any activity that was more difficult than walking, studying and breathing.
All with with bunch of other memories about those dreams came back when, a few days ago, the webmaster posted something on his blog taking inspiration about what once I told him about my few months long passion for in-line skates. (Follow this link if you want to read his post and if you are able to understand italian)
I don’t remember which was the occasion, but I told him about my passion and about my tenacity of that age. I didn’t just learn to use them(that’s easy) but, each time I happened to fall I was always ready to get up and go back skating for a few minutes, trying to ignore the slight pain caused by the fall (of course it never was that terrible)…I behaved so even the time I broke my right knee-pad. Why? Not because I was brave. The reason was that I just didn’t want that the fear of the fall would overcome me, I didn’t want to let this terrible and blocking fear spreading in my hearth.
Today those tender dreams makes me smile, but at the same time I found mysel sadly amazed about… myself.
I realized that I no longer have such tenacity with my studies and my life in general. I ended my “thoughts about the in-line skates” wondering if I were wiser at the age of 11 than, today, at the age of 23.
Who knows if I’ll be able to get back…
March 30, 2011
Since… always…
I remember people saying “you are crazy”.
There are several meaning that the people I know give to the word “crazy”, the meaning range goes from the “really mentally insane” to the “curious and funny in a good way”.
Yesterday I spent about 10 minutes on the floor in my room contemplating the lamp hanging from the ceiling…
It had something that was curious but that I couldn’t understand. I have beening moving on the floor in order to look at the lamp from the different point of view allowed to a person lying on the floor.
Centering it, the lamp looked both convex and concave, I know the reason of this “optical illusion”, but I still find it amazing enough to spend 10 minutes lying on the floor to take a picture of a simple lamp.
I think that yesterday my friends would use the word crazy with the first meaning.
March 25, 2011
Perplexed,
astonished,
dumbfounded,
dumbstruck,
gobsmacked…
There are days that make you feeling this way.
Today has been one of those days.
*The online dictionary used to translate the word “basito”
March 24, 2011
Java loves the ladder and she feels so safe up there that even if the room is full of people talking and doing noisy things she really falls asleep.
March 23, 2011
In the Italian version of this post I borrowed Rondoni’s words to express what I thought while and after I have taken this picture.
This Italian author express a really interesting concept in the few lines I found on the Italian version of Traces journal, but I don’t feel good enough in English to translate someone’s words from Italian to English language.
Therefore, for the first time since I have opened this blog, I have to write 2 different posts… In the English version of the post I want to just report the “meaning” of the few words of this author writing that made me thinking about the picture I had taken on Sunday under a light rain.
Those lines helped me saying what this simple picture meant to me: the idea that Spring comes slowly, with little changes of colors and air. This “slow motion” that you can see a feel in these weeks has always fascinated me, but I have never been able to express this through words…till today I was able only to take pictures of this idea.
I hope Rondoni won’t mind I had used his words this way. ^_^
March 21, 2011
March 18, 2011
I love to make cookies or muffins.
Not for annoying but for me, family and the eventual friends who might enjoy these.
March 17, 2011
Today people are celebrating the 150th “birthday of Italy”.
Untill the last year the 17th March for most Italian was just a day as anyother, for me was a day of thinking about “In the future I’d like to be in Ireland or NYC on March 17th, I want to see what they do for St.Patrick day” (check the blog post of 1year ago if you don’t believe me).
Today, this year, people decided that it was worth to recall to be Italian and the State decided that today is a day off, almost all work place and schools are closed. They decided Italian have to be happy for this birthday.
Already this nonsense that Italian celebrate Italy birth on March every 50 years sounded so meaningless that I have never felt like I would have joined any celebration form. So far, nothing was wrong about this. If they wanted to be happy for their history, well, it’s fine. But…
In the last months a lot of people started telling the truth about “how Italy was born”. They started realizing how it was just a forced annexation to the Savoia reing for the rest of Italy. How south Italy had be litteraly plundered and this caused what they call today the “Questione del Mezzogiorno”… that is substantially: south Italy economy has been killed and now they are “amazed” how South Italy economy doesn’t work well.
I am 23years old and before these last months I have been hearing only south Italian people telling this version of history, now even the rest of Italians are awaking. That would be a nice thing, but I fear that for some of them is not a desire of truth, is rather an excuse to justify what a party in North Italy wants: a federation of regions. A crappy ridicolous version of what is the whole terrority of USA that makes me wonder if someday, in the future, Italy will be named “United Regions of Italy”…
Here I won’t analyze further the historical aspect of this “union”, actually I didn’t even start doing this analysis since I’m reporting what I am hearing and reading in these days. Anyway, I don’t want to go further in the “history of the union” for two reason, the first is that I don’t know enough to seriously talk about it, the second is that I have no intention to do so on my blog and in English!
How people are celebrating Italy birthday? They do it in several ways, at the end Italians all more or less all pretty creative, but I want to focus on the way Italians are celebrating their State on Facebook.
Several people changed their profile picture with the flag of Italy, one changed it with a shot taken during the exbithion of the airplanes that form the “frecce tricolore” group (check the Various->Airplane to understand what I’m talking about). This is what people from central Italy to north Italy does. In the south a lot of people placed the symbol of Sicily. They still celbrate Italy birthday but they recall how south regions have been abused.
That had been enough for me. I have been asking myself if it was worth doing the same. The answer that came up to my mind was: “not at all”.
I feel unease at seeing Italy flags hanging from balcony, especial from the balcony of family whose mother tongue is Sicilian and not Italian.
That bad feeling made me thinking to hang USA flag from my balcony, I thought “just to bother them”, but I realized that doing so I would have done a bad use of that flag, and someone would have decide of destroying it. No, no one deserve to see his/her country flag abused. I avoided doing this.
I thought “probably the Vatican flag would be a nicer provocation”, but once again I thought “no, it’s an abuse of that flag and probably someone would try to destroy it”.
This all reminded me how I have never had the right to feel sicilian because I can’t speak the local dialect and I eat some north Italian dishes and say 3-4 north Italian typical words that make me sound “polentona” (polenta eater).
This all reminded me how I have never had the right to feel Italian because in north Italian I am always, even among close friends “the Sicilian friend” or “the Sicilian Elisa” and never understood this need to highlight my “origins” when this is not done for friend for other part of Italy.
What should have I done?
The only thing I have in common with “most” of Italians: religion. I am Catholic. Ok I share this faith with a lot people all over the world, but… since last year I dedicated my picture of the day to St.Patrick why shouldn’t i recall to my friends that having a Padre (Father) is better than having a “Patria” (home land)?
With this I don’t want to mean that Catholic religion worths more than any other religions, I just want to recall them who they actually are and to recall even the fact that the union of Italy had been done even through actions against the Church.
So, I hope Irish people won’t get offendend if my picture of FB represent a joyful sleeping St Patrick with a nice blue bird singing on his knee.
At the end, it’s the closest image of what I am. No, not the fact that I am a saint (unfortunately) but someone that doesn’t feel at home in Sicily, in Italy, in Europe but that feels home if she can see and take picture of the God’s creation, little blue birds included.
March 7, 2011
I wonder if my brother is still trying to figure out what cat were made for…
March 3, 2011
I think, hope, that everyone has at least a place to call refuge, a place where you can feel well.
There are several places around me that I call refuge, some are not made of matter, some are too far away to be visited everyday, at times it’s just my bed and then, and then there is this place
It is a place in the area where part of Catania university had been built.
It’s a place where you can find a passerby but, there, rarely you can find someone just sitting and looking around.
This is one of the few places in the “cittadella” where I find peace. I have to walk for about 10-15minutes to reach it from the physics department, but it’s all worth doing that walk.
Yesterday I went there. In the moment I started my walk the sky was partially cloudy, when I arrived there it was raining, a light rain. As soon as I pulled my camera out of my bag the sun started coming back. I have taken a few pictures. While I was on my way back to the laboratories most of the clouds were gone and the few still up in the sky were playing with sun light giving to the sea (pretty well visible from the “cittadella”) the strangest colors, it was all a mixtures of shades of blue, green and gray. Part of the clouds left were hiding the upper part of Mt Etna but a good half of the volcano was still visible and its amazing dress of snow was one of the most amazing part of that show.
People all around me were doing what people do here. Some were reviewing for a test, some were going to the administration, some other were running around the sport ground , some were just chatting with friends, a couple was kissing, some were working, some were relaxing, someone was going away, someone was arriving.
I didn’t get the shot I wanted, but on my way back to the laboratories I realized why I felt “the need” to run away from “my desk” and have this walk.
It was all so peaceful and beautiful that all my troubles faded away.
